Flooding And Tornado Continues Threaten Australia

Disaster after another in the world in recent decades. Both catastrophic geology, hydro-meteorological, biological and human-induced. Records of the National Disaster Management , during the last three decades, the disaster in the world increased by about 350 percent. This significant effect on the economy and global society.

Earthquake events in Haiti in 2010, floods in Pakistan, 2010, and 2011 floods in Thailand's economy more and more degrading to poor countries and emerging markets. "While floods in Australia, New Zealand earthquakes, and earthquake and tsunami in Japan in 2011, shows that rich countries are not immune to the risk of disaster" Global economic losses from disasters, the average in the 10 years since 2000 is U.S. $ 110 billion, where total insured losses of around U.S. $ 35 billion. Meanwhile, global disaster caused economic losses of U.S. $ 130 billion.

In 2011, losses increased by almost two-fold. The earthquake and tsunami in Japan on March 11, 2011 caused losses of U.S. $ 220 billion, or 3.4 percent of Japan's GDP, or nearly one-fifth of Indonesia's GDP today. Similarly, floods in Thailand in late 2011 caused 754 deaths, 10 million people suffering, and loss of U.S. $ 45 billion. Thailand's economic growth dropped about 2.4 percent.

After being hit by the flood that has not ended to this day,A mini-tornado has destroyed homes in the city of Townsville in north-eastern coast of Australia, this tornado winds damaged 40 homes and cut off the electricity to 7000 residents.

Tornadoes occurred for 10 minutes at 111 kilometers per hour. This tornado also uprooted some trees and nine people were reported injured. Department of Public Safety told the Australian Associated Press (AAP) about 30 houses have been damaged, including some of whom have lost their entire roof due to a mini tornado hit ..

Townsville's worst damage is concentrated in the area around a radius of one kilometer, in the suburb of Vincent, Pimlico and Gulliver, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported. Queensland Premier Anna Bligh told reporters in Cairns in the north of the country on Tuesday morning that there were initial reports are very sad of a very bad storm in Townsville on Tuesday morning.

"It seems to be something akin to a mini tornado, has taken the roof of the house and there are a lot of vegetation down and it causes great damage," he said.

He said preliminary reports indicate that the damage could be as bad as the devastating storm Gap in Brisbane a few years ago, when more than two dozen other homes were destroyed and 4000 damaged.

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Floods in Australia

Almost 9,000 people have been ordered to leave their homes in the town of Wagga Wagga in New South Wales as floods continue in southeast Australia. The Murrumbidgee river is predicted to peak at 10.9 m, sparking fears that the town's levee may be breached. Police, the military and the emergency services were all helping with the evacuation, local media said. Days of heavy rain have caused flooding across three Australian states and left at least two people dead.

Parts of Queensland and Victoria are also affected.

On Tuesday, emergency personnel and officials in Wagga Wagga said they were ''monitoring'' the rising water and the levee. The expected peak is higher than a major flood in the area in 1974, and reportedly the highest since 1844, Australian media said. Prime Minister Julia Gillard told reporters that military resources have been deployed and are standing by to render aid if necessary.

"We've got floodwaters across New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria," she said. "For the people of Wagga particularly, this is a very anxious time."

Police have gone door-to-door in the town to encourage people to leave.

Floods across eastern Australia forced more than 13,000 people to evacuate their homes on Tuesday after record-high summer rains drenched three states over the past week, swelling rivers and forcing dams to overflow. In the worst-hit state of New South Wales, authorities ordered 8,000 people to leave their homes in the inland city of Wagga Wagga, where flood waters were expected to breach an 11-metre levee and swamp houses and the main business district.

Thousands of people in Wagga Wagga moved to shelter at local schools, while the centre of the town, home to around 60,000 people, was deserted on Tuesday. "If the levee is breached, we would expect significant inundation and we would expect that to happen very quickly," State Emergency Service Assistant Commissioner Mark Murdoch told reporters.

Heavy rains across Australia's east over the past week also prompted flood warnings in the northern Queensland state, and in Victoria, where residents in some small towns have been warned to prepare to evacuate if conditions worsen. Two people have been killed in flood waters over the past week.

The heavy rains filled Sydney's Warragamba Dam, which overflowed on the weekend for the first time in 13 years, while Canberra's Cotter Dam has filled with water spilling over a new dam wall currently under construction. The national government has made the military available to help with the floods, but said it was too early to determine the cost of damage or impact on the economy.

"It is impossible to quantify economic damage until the flood waters subside," Prime Minister Julia Gillard told reporters in Canberra. But the Premier of New South Wales Barry O'Farrell earlier said the damage bill could be as high as A$500 million ($530 million). The flood waters, however, will not have a major impact on Australia's major winter crops, which have already been harvested, the government's chief commodities forecaster ABARES said on Tuesday.

"Winter crop harvest was complete before the flooding happened," ABARES chief commodities analyst Jammie Penm told Reuters. "That's the largest crop component in Australian production. He said the rains could cause local damage to summer crops, such as sorghum, cotton and soybeans, but it was too early to make an assessment. "Some of the crops might not necessarily die when they submerge. Some of the crops can survive even after floods," he said.

"It is too early to make an assessment in preciseness, because we have to wait for the waters to subside."

In early 2011, Australia suffered disastrous floods which killed around 35 people, swamped 30,000 houses, wiped out roads and bridges and flooded coal mines, denting exports and economic growth. "Should the levee fail and the water enters the CBD and other areas in Wagga Wagga, then people need to be in the evacuation centre, not in their homes or businesses,'' said State Emergency Services deputy commissioner Dieter Geske.

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2012 Global Disaster Already Begun Do You Have Survival Plan

Is Earth facing some kind of global catastrophe?

Some believe that it's so close to the End of Days that they are investing in an underground bunker community. Can your family afford to make yourselves a future survival plan? If not, you might just "miss the bus" to the next Age, because Vivos™ (The Underground Shelter Network for Long-Term Survival of Future Catastrophes) won't be mailing anyone a Golden Ticket without a hefty price tag to escape the proposed coming danger.

Have you been paying attention to the news lately?

How big will the hurricane, earthquake, comet or tsunami need to be for you to pack some Trojans up too?

Tell me, where in Nature are there traces of immortality? Rather, we tend to find recurring patterns or cycles. Every day, more evidence surfaces, supporting the human race nearing the end of a cycle, as well.

Just as water becomes vapor, we too will have a new beginning.

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Toowoomba Australia Flood

Please pray for them. There are many people who are suffering through this.

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Will Bangkok Floods Continue Until 2012 ...?

Bangkok - Floods continue to hit parts of Bangkok, Thailand. In fact, according to Prime Minister (PM) Yingluck Shinawatra of Thailand, Bangkok could be partially flooded by the year 2012.

Thailand's worst flooding in half a century has killed at least 562 people. In some areas of Bangkok, the flood began to shrink. But according to Yingluck, it took several weeks before the whole of Bangkok are free from flooding.

"I personally want to see people happy in the new year, but I'm not sure about the western regions, where it is difficult to drain the water," said Yingluck told reporters in Bangkok when asked whether flooding will continue through 2012.

It is said Yingluck, Bangkok's eastern regions will likely be free from flooding before next year.

"The general situation is stable because of flood waters flowing into the sea, but how quickly the flood dries up depends on the contour of each region," said the younger sister of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is as reported by AFP on Tuesday (15/11/2011).

Currently almost all regions except Bangkok flooded the heart of Bangkok is the center of business and government. On November 14, yesterday, some residents had protested by blocking the main road. Residents angry that Bangkok's suburbs continue to flood while downtown Bangkok is free from flooding.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) Ban Ki-Moon and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the United States (U.S.) Hillary Clinton, will visit Bangkok, to see the flooding that occurred in Thailand.

The visit was planned to take place next week. Both figures were intended to examine what is required by Thailand in order to overcome the crisis they are experiencing floods. So reported the AFP on Sunday (11/13/2011).

Prime Minister (PM) Yingluck Shinawatra said Thailand, they will visit Thailand on 16 to 17 November. They will discuss the crisis and rehabilitation plans of the Government of Thailand after the flood.

Previously, due to this flood, AM Yingluck forced to cancel its presence in Asia Pacific Economy Cooperation Forum (APEC) in Honolulu, Hawaii. Yingluck prefer to focus on overcoming the crisis that hit the country.

The crisis in Thailand is indeed said to be the worst in five decades. Flooding has reportedly killed 533 people and caused losses Thailand billions of dollars.

Flooding even make the King of Thailand Bhumibol Adulyadej health declined. Dirudung sense of worry from the severe floods that hit Thailand, King Bhumibol had reportedly fainted.

According to Princess Chulabhorn, King Bhumibol continue to see news about the flood. Princess Chulabhorn added, "The King looked very worried. Has never talked much, but his worries are evident from the current physical condition".

Parties to the Royal Palace itself does not issue an official report on this matter. While the Siriraj Hospital, the place where King treated all this time, not willing to provide information about the health condition of King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

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Faster Flood Forecasting at SERVIR-Africa

In September 2010, SERVIR Science Coordinator Dr. Ashutosh Limaye made his first journey to the SERVIR-Africa node at the Regional Center for Mapping of Resources for Development, or RCMRD, in Nairobi, Kenya.

In this part of the world, flood estimation is a hot topic. Limaye's discussions with the RCMRD team and stakeholders from the Kenya Meteorological Department and USAID’s Famine Early Warning Systems Network highlighted the importance of flood-potential mapping, flood forecasting and post-event flood mapping for the region.

A hydrologist by training, Limaye is attuned to the economic and public health ramifications of better hydrologic estimation in East Africa. "Rift Valley Fever is critical in that part of the world, where livestock transport and the livelihood of a vast population come to a grinding halt because of travel restrictions induced by the disease," he said.

Without a doubt, he said, improved stream flow and flood estimation can have multiple important applications in the SERVIR-Africa region, including flood and drought disaster forecasting and response; agricultural and food security impacts; and Rift Valley Fever risk mapping, to name just a few.

In response to these needs, SERVIR-Africa and the Kenya Meteorological Department are teaming to give decision-makers flood forecasts with longer lead-times. SERVIR-Africa has investigated various regional and global hydrologic models for flood modeling, which shows scientists where standing water will occur above a defined threshold. A team at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and the University of Oklahoma in Norman pioneered the hydrologic modeling efforts in East Africa for SERVIR-Africa. They developed the hydrologic model based on the state-of-the-art Variable Infiltration Capacity model.

Limaye is enhancing those efforts by incorporating forecast components into the modeling system. For example, in the Nzoia watershed in Lake Victoria Basin, SERVIR-Africa is working with researchers at Goddard, Oklahoma University and NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., to implement and evaluate a higher resolution (approximately 1 km) distributed hydrologic model: the Coupled Routing and Excess Storage, or CREST, water balance model. In Lake Victoria Basin, the CREST model uses real-time rainfall data from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite as a boundary condition to map streamflow, evapotranspiration and soil moisture.

For flood forecasting, SERVIR-Africa is working with the Kenya Meteorological Department to incorporate their atmospheric model-based rain forecasts into the CREST model in place of observed Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission data.

These rain forecasts will give decision-makers a longer lead time for flood forecasting, allowing more time for preparation and reaction. These forecasts will be available through the SERVIR-Africa website.

The SERVIR program is operated by the Earth Science Division's Applied Sciences Program in NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Three other NASA field centers work with Marshall and Goddard on the program: NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffet Field, Calif., NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., and NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. 

Nasa Gov

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Hurricane

In 2010, there were 14 named storms, of which 7 were hurricanes and 5 were major hurricanes (that is, category-3, 4 and 5 ones). Hurricane activity this year was about 1.5 times the median hurricane activity level.A hurricane is an intense tropical storm. Tropical storms form over warm tropical oceans when local sea surface temperatures are above 26.5°C (80°F) through a depth of at least 50 meters (160 ft). Under these conditions, evaporation from the ocean surface creates very high humidity in the atmosphere, which in turn generates thunderstorms.

A surefire way to kill a hurricane? Add something called “vertical wind shear” — essentially a change in wind speed and direction with height. It stops the storm from forming in its tracks by ripping it apart.  Another way to kill a hurricane? Whip up a wind across the deserts of northern Africa. Dust gets swept up into the air and helps damp down developing storms. (In fact, it’s the effect of the dust combined with vertical wind shear and super-dry air that’s the killer.)

There’s a school of thought that says that climate change should fuel more hurricanes and more intense ones, because as the planet warms, ocean waters warm and sea surface temperature rises.

In a paper published earlier this year in Science, Thomas R. Knutson, of the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and co-authors suggest that we should expect an increase in the frequency of the strongest hurricanes in the Atlantic, roughly by a factor of two by the end of the century, despite a decrease in the overall number of hurricanes. “But we should not expect this trend to be clearly detectable until we near the end of the century, given a scenario in which CO2 [carbon dioxide] doubles by 2100.” The relationship will become more apparent as we improve our understanding and data and as the climate continues to warm.

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Help for the Environment

Earth

bout a decade ago, scientists discovered something about the "black earth" in the Amazon River Basin of Brazil that surprised them. They knew it was extremely fertile, unlike other soils in the region.
They discovered that this black earth, or "terra preta" in Portugese, gets its richness from charred wood called biochar that was added by indigenous people to their farmlands over 700 years ago.

The discovery sparked interest in biochar as both a medium for enriching soil and as a way to fight global warming by reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

"We've been taking carbon stored underground for billions of years and putting it into the atmosphere," says Doris Hamill, a business development manager in the Strategic Relationships Office at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. Making biochar is "basically the reverse of what we've been doing."

Plants take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and change it into plant matter. But when the plant dies, it is eventually broken back down to carbon dioxide. If that plant matter is converted into biochar, the carbon in it doesn't break down any further. Biochar's big benefit is its longevity -- it can last for thousands of years, said Hamill, who is working with local municipal officials to encourage use of the material in Virginia's Hampton Roads region.

"The best thing to do with biochar is put it into the soil, and it's very happy to be there. And when it's in the soil, it does a lot of good things," said Hamill. "It stays there for a long time, and provides a home for soil bacteria and other microbes that improve soil. Even small amounts of biochar are very, very good for the soil."


Make Your Own

Biochar can be created by anyone with a couple of steel barrels, some wood and a match. A biochar "pyrolyzer" built by Langley's fabrication shop consists of a large barrel with a smaller barrel upside-down inside. Biomass to be converted to biochar is placed in the smaller barrel. Wood and other organic fuel goes around it inside the larger barrel to supply the heat for charring.

Fire it up, close it up, hang out for a while, and you have biochar.

While you're waiting, you can ponder the pyrolysis process, in which water and other chemicals are driven out of the wood in an oxygen-free environment that lets the material char but not go up in flames. This same basic process was used to make charcoal three thousand years ago and is used today to make advanced composite materials for NASA missions.

"It's a very simple product," Hamill said. "There's no trick, there's no magic, there's no technology involved."

The biochar can then be augmented with fertilizer or other materials that enrich soil. Mixing biochar with the kind of fertilizer you can buy in a lawn and garden store reduces the amount you need to use by more than half, said Hamill, because it holds the fertilizer instead of letting it wash away. It also helps hold water in the soil.

For a variety of reasons, large-scale biochar production doesn't make sense economically yet, she said. That's why Hamill is out in the community encouraging people to make their own.


Appearing At EarthFest

She's worked with the city of Hampton for about a year on a community biochar project. Master gardeners are testing different materials and mix ratios to enrich the biochar.

"We've come up with an initial small-scale method which involves a blender and some tablespoons and other kitchen things to produce something you could easily hand somebody to use," said master gardener Carol King.

For the many homeowners plagued by pine cones and gum balls, zapping them into useful biochar is the perfect solution, King said. "So this could be wildly popular!"

Hamill and her collaborators also are working on a "starter kit" that includes an instructional video, plans for making and using a pyrolyzer, safety tips and a global-warming primer.

A next step is involving 4-H students in a biochar project at Bluebird Gap Farm in Hampton. The students will gather wood, make biochar, mix it with nutrients, and add it to plots of vegetation. They will see how plants enriched with biochar grow compared to those that do not.

Another Langley employee, engineer Gregory Hajos, plans to crew a biochar exhibit at EarthFest, a NASA public event Oct. 23 at Sandy Bottom Nature Park in Hampton.

Hamill undertook the biochar project "on the side" as a way of using NASA resources to benefit the community, while fulfilling a personal goal -- "a desire," she said, "to help save the world from global warming."

http://www.nasa.gov/

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About Earth

Earth (or the Earth) is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets. It is sometimes referred to as the World, the Blue Planet, or by its Latin name, Terra.

Home to millions of species including humans, Earth is currently the only place where life is known to exist. The planet formed 4.54 billion years ago, and life appeared on its surface within a billion years. Earth's biosphere has significantly altered the atmosphere and other abiotic conditions on the planet, enabling the proliferation of aerobic organisms as well as the formation of the ozone layer which, together with Earth's magnetic field, blocks harmful solar radiation, permitting life on land.The physical properties of the Earth, as well as its geological history and orbit, have allowed life to persist during this period. The planet is expected to continue supporting life for at least another 500 million years.

  
Earth is the third planet from the Sun

The Earth's average distance from the Sun is 149,597,890 km (92,955,820 miles) or one astronomical unit (AU). Located between Venus and Mars, some people have called it the "third rock from the sun."  Our planet's rapid spin and molten nickel-iron core give rise to a magnetic field, which the solar wind distorts into a teardrop shape. The magnetic field does not fade off into space, but has definite boundaries. Just like the field around a magnet, ours is also polarized. When charged particles from the solar wind become trapped in Earth's magnetic field, they collide with air molecules above our planet's magnetic poles. These air molecules then begin to glow and are known as the aurorae, or the Northern and Southern Lights. 

earth's atmosphere is 77% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, with traces of argon, carbon dioxide and water. This atmosphere affects Earth's long-term climate and short-term local weather; shields us from nearly all harmful radiation coming from the Sun; and protects us from meteors as well - most of which burn up before they can strike the surface. All of the things we need to survive are provided under a thin layer of atmosphere that separates us from the uninhabitable void of space. Earth is made up of complex, interactive systems that are often unpredictable. Air, water, land, and life - including humans - combine forces to create a constantly changing world that we are striving to understand.

Our close proximity prevents us from seeing Earth in its entirety To completely view our own planet, we must leave its surface and journey into space. From the vantage point of space we are able to observe our planet globally, as we do other planets, using similar sensitive instruments to understand the delicate balance among its oceans, air, land, and life. Viewing Earth from the unique perspective of space provides the opportunity to see Earth as a whole. Scientists around the world have discovered many things about our planet by working together and sharing their findings.

Earth interacts with other objects in space, especially the Sun and the Moon. At present, Earth orbits the Sun once for every roughly 366.26 times it rotates about its axis, which is equal to 365.26 solar days, or one sidereal year.The Earth's axis of rotation is tilted 23.4° away from the perpendicular to its orbital plane, producing seasonal variations on the planet's surface with a period of one tropical year (365.24 solar days). Earth's only known natural satellite, the Moon, which began orbiting it about 4.53 billion years ago, provides ocean tides, stabilizes the axial tilt and gradually slows the planet's rotation. Between approximately 3.8 billion and 4.1 billion years ago, numerous asteroid impacts during the Late Heavy Bombardment caused significant changes to the greater surface environment.

EarthFacts.net holds a collection of facts about the planet Earth and some of the lifeforms living on it, as well as some creatures that no longer exist on Earth. We know more today than ever before about our planet Earth and what’s going on around us. Science is always continuing to connect the dots through Earth research, study, and experimentation. As technology advances, we continue to learn and find more out about our planet Earth.

Earth, our home planet, is a beautiful blue and white ball when seen from space. The third planet from the Sun, it is the largest of the inner planets. Earth is the only planet known to support life and to have liquid water at the surface. Earth has a substantial atmosphere and magnetic field, both of which are critical for sustaining life on Earth. Earth is the innermost planet in the solar system with a natural satellite – our Moon

 

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